[Football] A Chris Hughton poll with a difference

[El Presidente]

All it would take is for every season ticket holder to give the club £2,000 this summer and we would have an extra £44 million to invest in new players. Tony Bloom has done his bit, perhaps it's time for fans to dig deep for the Albion if we are in this division next season?

 

[Bodian]

We are back to where we were when CH originally took over, the significant difference being that we are now in the league above. People were calling for his head when he saved us from relegation to League 1. He then turned things around by getting in better players and eventually changing the system to 442 - whether this was his idea or not I don't know (I seem to remember that he was persuaded to do it by others, as he does not like 442)

It is obvious that we now have to do that again - get in better players to allow us to attack more. The recruitment since leaving the Championship has gone from very good to poor. CH can only use the resources that he is given and whilst he has tried to make us more attacking, it has failed as defensively we have crumbled. So back to basics yesterday got us a very valuable point, which tells me that he has not lost the dressing room, but also points to the fact that the many of new recruits are not up to it.

I have read on here that we played great attacking football in the champtionship. I don't remember that - we were highly efficient defensively and broke with pace and purpose. We didn't necessarily dominate games, we were just bloody good at getting results. That is what we have to get back to.

Is CH the man to do that? He has done it before so why not again? Recruitment is the key here, not changing the manager.

This is it I think. I don't think there's a lot in all this stuff about CH stifling the attackers and so on. He sets a team up defensively, because that is our strength, and it gets the results.

He's tried a more attacking expansive style since Christmas - and look where it has got us. I am struggling a bit to see how this is put down to being purely the managers fault. He's basically said 'Right, we're good at defending, we've got points on the board, now let's try attacking a bit more'. It hasn't worked out, partly because the midfield/attacking force is seemingly not really up to that job - and then because we haven't been getting the goals at one end, the defence was stretched at the other - and we started losing confidence and shipping needless goals; resulting in the Bournemouth/Cardiff shockers.

It looks to me as though CH has said 'I've had enough of this - so I'm going to go back to what we are good at'. And on the evidence of yesterday, it is still there. The fight, the passion, and the ability to throw themselves in the way of everything.

To my mind, if we had a stronger midfield serving the forwards, we'd be able to achieve that better balance. And that is what they'll be looking for with the next tranche of PL money.

It's madness to say CH doesn't want to win, or doesn't like us scoring goals. The Championship seasons showed this fully, and people really do need to remember that.

 

[Guinness Boy]

He's tried a more attacking expansive style since Christmas - and look where it has got us. I am struggling a bit to see how this is put down to being purely the managers fault. He's basically said 'Right, we're good at defending, we've got points on the board, now let's try attacking a bit more'. It hasn't worked out, partly because the midfield/attacking force is seemingly not really up to that job - and then because we haven't been getting the goals at one end, the defence was stretched at the other - and we started losing confidence and shipping needless goals; resulting in the Bournemouth/Cardiff shockers.

It looks to me as though CH has said 'I've had enough of this - so I'm going to go back to what we are good at'. And on the evidence of yesterday, it is still there. The fight, the passion, and the ability to throw themselves in the way of everything..

The "4-3-3" really should be more expansive but it isn't and mostly ends up as a 4-5-1 with Murray isolated and trying to hold on to the ball. He's slower than every centre back he emcounters, has done the donkey work all season and the refs have now wised up to his cute fouls. It's not been attacking in any way in the games I've seen, if anything the limitations given by the players selected in the roles made it more defensive. To compensate Montoya and Bernardo then end up pushing up too high to support and we get battered down the wings. Bernardo is quick enough to get back but Montoya isn't - not surprised he's been sacrificed for Bruno.

If we wanted to throw the kitchen sink at it then 4-4-2 with Murray and Andone up front so there's some pace alongside Glenn.

Our goals scored and shots per game completely tallies with the fact that we are less attacking. Visually compare it with Man U at home where we pressed them high and won the ball around half way or further forward, or Palace where we continued to pressure the ball when down to 10 men.

 

[Bodian]

The "4-3-3" really should be more expansive but it isn't and mostly ends up as a 4-5-1 with Murray isolated and trying to hold on to the ball. He's slower than every centre back he emcounters, has done the donkey work all season and the refs have now wised up to his cute fouls. It's not been attacking in any way in the games I've seen, if anything the limitations given by the players selected in the roles made it more defensive. To compensate Montoya and Bernardo then end up pushing up too high to support and we get battered down the wings. Bernardo is quick enough to get back but Montoya isn't - not surprised he's been sacrificed for Bruno.

Yes - I agree. I think that's what I was sort of trying to say. The players limitations means that what has been tried hasn't really worked out. I too would have at least liked to have seen Murray & Andone up front together - we couldn't have slumped any worse really, so why wasn't it really tried out?

 

[Icy Gull]

All it would take is for every season ticket holder to give the club £2,000 this summer and we would have an extra £44 million to invest in new players. Tony Bloom has done his bit, perhaps it's time for fans to dig deep for the Albion if we are in this division next season?

Do we get our percentage of the sell on if our funds unearth a gem?

 

[El Presidente]

Do we get our percentage of the sell on if our funds unearth a gem?

Absolutely


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Icy Gull]

Absolutely


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’m in

 

[Ecosse Exile]

Hughton blew our chance to become safe with the negative approach to winnable games such as Saints and Bournemouth. Burnley was a freak game and I understood the defensive set up vs Cardiff because of what had gone before.

Anyone who thinks CH hasn’t fecked up, to a degree, this season is in denial imo

I understood it yesterday, just get out with something, restore a bit of pride and make Cardiff's job that little bit harder, which we did, as long as Cardiff dont beat Liverpool jobs a good'un.

I didn't actually think we were overly defensive against Cardiff, until they scored their worldy, i thought we were by far the better team, Murray nearly got to that ball ahead of Etheridge (Andone or Locadia would have), March hit the side netting and dragged another wide, the penalty that should have been given, all before they scored. But once they scored, wow, you could see the confidence and belief evaporating in front of your eyes. By the end of the game Cardiff looked a good side, they are not, we were just awful.

Bournemouth, ripped us a new one, but after their recent form we should have been doing that to them, christ they didn't even have arecognised left back in their squad, if ever there was a time to play Bournemouth that was it, go for the jugular ffs, or..... We could try and keep it tight and hope to nick one from a set piece.

Southampton another team below us in the table, oh but wait, these are a good side, no they're not, they were below us in the table for that very reason, stop bigging these teams up ffs. Again a lacklustre display from a team that looked a shadow of the team that battered Watford, ok it was 0-0, but make no mistake that should have and could have been a drubbing.

Its also the stubborness not to play 442 Hughton was praising Gross for his creative abilities, imagine what he might do with two guys up their to aim at, two guys who have far more mobility than Murray, sadly all we can do is imagine cos Hughton wont try it, even though Gross playing a far deeper role for Paderborn and was still the most creative player in the Bundesliga, i mention that deep role because that would suggest that the guy can actually defend, therefore can probably play as part of a middle two in a 442.